Live Passionately, No Matter Your Age

One of our favorite TED talks is from Chilean-American writer, Isabel Allende, who believes living passionately is possible at every age. During her TED talk—inspiring for women of all ages from 20 to 120—Allende discusses what she's lost and gained over her decades of “growing older.”

What have I lost in the last decades? People, of course. Places. And the boundless energy of my youth. And I’m beginning to lose independence, and that scares me.

What have I gained? Freedom. I don’t have to prove anything anymore. I’m not stuck in the idea of who I was, who I want to be, or what other people expect me to be. I don’t have to please men anymore. I feel lighter. I don’t carry grudges, ambition, or vanity. It’s great to let go, I should have started sooner. I also feel softer because I’m not scared of being vulnerable. I don’t see it as weakness anymore. And I’ve gained spirituality. I’m aware that before, death was in the neighborhood. Now, it’s next door. Or, in my house.

We all feel younger than our real age, because the spirit never ages. I am still 17. Mary Oliver says in one of her poems “Tell me, what is it that you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” Me, I intend to live passionately.